It Should Be Easier
by mockingjay-x
Summary: Mark and Addison were high school sweethearts, Mark moved away, not knowing Addison was pregnant. She gave their child up for adoption. They meet again in med school and work things out. What happens when the truth is revealed? Rated M for sexual content
1. 23 Years

**I'm well aware of the fact that I have other fics on the go, which I need to update. But sit it out, they'll happen. I've had this idea for a while now, and I just wanted to see how people took to it. So, reviews are appreciated a lot. It's not as long as I'd hoped, nor as good. But it's just a start.  
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**I don't own anything, sadly. I wouldn't complain if I owed Eric though. However, my obsession with Patrick is kinda crazy lately. **

**Read and Review it, please.**

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It had been 23 years since she'd held her baby in her arms, 23 long years since she'd said goodbye to the baby that she and her High School sweetheart had brought into the world. 23 years since she had cried herself to sleep after handing her baby daughter over. Now, 23 years later, she was going to meet her.

If she'd told Mark about things, then maybe they wouldn't be in the situation they're in, maybe they would've found a way to raise the child together. But Bizzy hadn't wanted her daughter to put her career on the line because of some stupid mistake, in fact, she'd wanted Addison to have an abortion, but Addison had refused. She didn't care if Mark wasn't around, she couldn't have an abortion. She had been 17, still in high school, and her boyfriend had moved away five weeks before she found out that she was pregnant. He was gone, and she was in this alone. Of course, her friends had said they'd stick by her, but soon enough they'd changed their minds and decided that they didn't want to be in the middle of the whole thing.

So, Addison Forbes Montgomery was left alone, to deal with the pregnancy alone. Her Mother had suggested that she was home-school, but Addison refused that. She would deal with the taunting from other students about her being pregnant, she didn't care. It wasn't until about three weeks before the baby was born that Addison realised she couldn't do it, she couldn't raise a child at the age of 18. She had college, med school, her internship, she had everything left to look forward to, she couldn't possibly let her child stop her from doing what she wanted to do. What she wanted to do since she was 10, nothing could stop that.

Of course, she regretted it, she regretted it every single day that she wasn't brave enough to raise her own child, but she couldn't do it alone, and she had no idea where Mark was any more. She had tried calling his house phone, but each time she would get told the same thing; he was out. That was it, nothing more. He had given her the number for his new house in, and Addison had called it in hope that one day he would answer, she had been wrong. Maybe he didn't mean any of the things he had said in their 15 month relationship. It wouldn't surprise her really, but it still hurt at the thought that he wasn't there.

High School had been a place she had liked when Mark had been there, meeting her by her locker with that smug little grin on his face, some sexual inuendo slipping from his lips constantly. The way his large hand would grip hers when she was least expecting it. The way he'd wait outside her class all the time for her, just so that he could walk her to her next one. Guys who didn't mean it when they said; 'I love you' to a girl, they didn't do that sort of thing. Mark had been perfect in every possible way, at least that's what Addison had thought.

It had honestly surprised her when he had asked her to one of the frequent parties that went on at someone's house, she had believed it was a bet that he had with some of his friends, but after him being so persistent, so sweet, she couldn't say no to him. That was it, after that, she'd never been able to say no to Mark Sloan. Other than the odd occasion when he'd suggest watching a movie and then choose something like Star Wars or Top Gun. She'd say no then, but not to much else. He just seemed to have that effect on her. Addison had believed they would last, at least until the end of High School, then maybe, they'd see how things would work out for college. That hadn't happened, his family had moved and she was left alone to deal with the consequences of sleeping with Mark Sloan.

_September 14th 1985._

_"Addison, would you just listen to me? Please?" Mark pleaded with the red head as she stormed away from him. It was raining, quite heavily, and Addison hated the rain, but she was walking away from him, at a quicker pace than usual._

_"Leave me alone, Mark. It's better like this." She yelled back, not even glancing back at the figure who was quickly catching up with her._

_"Addie." He pleaded once again as his arms slid around her waist, pulling her to a stop against him. He wasn't letting her walk away from him, not this time. He turned her to face him, and even with the rain falling down on them, the water soaking her face, he knew she'd been crying. Her eyes were red, not like the gorgeous color of her hair, no, a horrible red he hated seeing. "I know I can't say anything to make this right, I'm sorry. But I love you."_

_Those words always made her melt, she wanted to yell, push him away and continue on with her walk home in the rain, even though it was over three miles to her own house, and less than three hundred feet to Mark's. She tried to pull away from him, but she noticed that he just gripped her even tighter, not letting her go. "Mark." She begged as she looked down at his chest, avoiding eye contact with him. "Let me go." A stray tear escaping and slowly flowing down her cheek alongside the rain that seemed to have gotten heavier in the short time they'd been standing still._

_"No." The tone of his voice wasn't one to mess with, Addison knew that, she knew not to disagree with him when he got like that._

_"What do you want, Mark?" She questioned quietly as she slowly brought her gaze back up to him, regretting it instantly as she saw the pained look in his eyes. Since he had told her he was moving away, she'd only thought about her own feelings, she'd never once stopped to consider just how Mark was feeling in all of this. She stopped fighting the urge to pull away and leant into him a little more as she reached up and lightly pressed her lips to his. Damn him, she needed to be mad at him, but right at that moment, it was impossible._

_"I want you to listen." He answered after he had felt her lips against his for the few seconds they were there. "I want you to understand when I say that I don't want to go, but I'm seventeen, Addie. Seventeen. I can't stick around here alone, plus, my Dad wouldn't let me, no matter how much I begged him. If I could stay here with you, spend the rest of senior year with you, graduate with you, I would. I'll keep in touch, and when we're eighteen, we'll run from our parents and elope to Vegas." A slight chuckle escaped his lips at his last words, he knew it wasn't going to happen, but hopefully it would lighten the mood slightly._

_"I'm gonna miss you." Addison whispered softly as she buried her head in his chest, feeling his strong arms tighten around her small frame._

_"I'm gonna miss you too." Mark muttered as he pressed his lips against the top of her hair softly. "But we should get you back inside, I don't want you getting sick because of me." His voice was sincere and he pulled away from the red haired girl slightly and took her hand in his, leading her back to his empty house. It was four days until he was leaving, his Dad hadn't exactly given him much warning, so it was hectic for him. Right now, his parents were up in their new house in Manchester, New Hampshire, so he had the house to himself. Of course, he hated being alone so he had invited Addison over._

_"I love you, Mark." Addison whispered as she leant her head against his shoulder, walking in the rain back to his house._

_"I love you too, Addie." He mumbled as he pressed his lips against the top of her head softly, fumbling in his pocket for his door key._

_Within a couple of minutes they were standing in the hallway of Mark's house, soaked through from the rain which was still pouring down outside. As Mark looked at the red head in front of him, her clothes clinging to her slender figure, showing her curves off perfectly, he couldn't help but feel aroused. They'd had sex before, in fact, it was kind of one of their things, but this was different. This was more of a goodbye thing, it probably wouldn't happen again after tonight. He wanted it to last, he wanted it to be special. "Let's get you out of the wet clothes." He muttered as he grabbed her hand in his, heading towards the staircase._

_"Mark..." Addison began as she pulled to a standstill, her eyes looking into his, asking him what he was already hoping for, but the look on her face was one he couldn't refuse. So, he just nodded his head slightly at her, a small grin on his lips as he saw the instant smile appear on her face. As long as his Addison was happy, that was all that mattered._

That was it, that was the last time she saw him, the last time she recalled feeling his hands moving over every curve on her body, his fingers doing things only he knew how to do, his lips working their way over her body, their bodies moving perfectly in sequence with one another. It had been absolutely perfect, and it had made losing Mark Sloan even more difficult.

The next nine months had been filled with a numbness, one that no one could fill, and when that baby was born, for a short while, she felt completely. But it wasn't up to her any more, there were people waiting for this dark haired baby that she had agreed to give up. She needed her life back and having a child when she trotted off to college had never been part of the plan. Mark wasn't around any more, so nothing was up to him. She wasn't even sure if she would ever see him again.

_September 3rd 1990_

_This wasn't happening, not to her, she wasn't seeing this. It was her first day at Med School, and she was meant to be starting over. College had been a good start, a great start in fact, to get over the child she'd had a little over four years before. Things had happened in college which she wanted to move on from, the boyfriend who had cheated on her numerous amounts of times was one of them. But this, she wasn't expecting this. She wasn't expecting to walk into her first lecture of the day and be faced with him, sitting there with that grin on his face as he was talking to another male beside him. The two looked as though they'd been friends for a while, and who was she to intrude on that. Plus, he probably didn't even remember her. Why would he? He was the one that had moved away without a word._

_The rest of her lecture passed by slower than she had hoped, because she just wanted to get out of there, she wanted to go to her dorm and hide for the rest of the day, and plan on finding a new seat next time she was in this very room. A new seat where she wouldn't be faced with the back of his head each time she looked up from the notes she was taking. When Dr. Hantz called the lecture to a close, Addison let out a deep sigh of relief as she packed up her things hurriedly, hoping that she could escape the room unnoticed by him._

_So much for that, as she was walking out of the room, she felt herself trip, over her own feet of course. But none the less, the books she had had fallen on the floor along with herself, and when she saw a hand being held out towards her, she wanted to ignore it, because even though it was just a hand, she recognised it. Stupid really, but she knew exactly who's hand it was. "I'm fine." She said quickly as she reached for her books and put them into a pile, standing up slowly, only to be faced with the person she wanted to avoid. The reason she had tripped up in the first place._

_"Addison?" His voice still sounded the same, if not even nicer than it had done in high school, he looked a lot better too, more muscular._

_"Mark." She said bluntly as she looked away from him, down to the books she had clutched against her chest, then up to the guy who was now at Mark's side, the one he had been talking away to at the beginning of the lecture._

_"I'll meet you there, Derek. I just... Yeah." He didn't finish what he was saying, but his friend nodded, smiled at Addison and walked away from the two, who were now just staring at one another in disbelief. "Are you all right?" He questioned. It wasn't just an; 'Are you all right?' because she had tripped up, it was filled up with so much more too._

_"I'm fine." Her tone still just as bitter as when she had said his name only moments before. "Why are you here?" Of course, that was a stupid question, it was obvious why he was there, absolutely obvious, but she still couldn't help but ask it._

_"Columbia was my first choice."_

_"No, you wanted Stanford. I wanted Columbia." She reminded him, of their many conversations about colleges and med schools when they were together. She had always wanted Columbia, he had always wanted Stanford, because it was closer to LA, where the weather was nicer._

_"Things change." He said simply, his eyes searching for something more from her._

_All she could do was scoff at his remark and she turned to walk away, only to stop when she felt his hand on her shoulder. The feeling she got, it was one she had tried to avoid when she had realised it was him holding his hand out towards her. It was one she hadn't felt since that night, that stupid night that she got pregnant with his child. "Mark." She pleaded softly as she went to push his hand off her shoulder, but she couldn't, she couldn't do it. Slowly, Addison turned around to face him again, looking up into his eyes. Was it wrong to want to feel him holding her again, to feel his strong arms envelope her and hold her tightly? Of course it was, but she wanted it anyway._

_"Addie." He muttered as she turned around, he'd always had a weakness for red heads, well, this one in particular. In fact, since he'd moved, he'd hated the sight of red heads because they always reminded of Addison. Before he had a chance to say anything else, he felt her against him one arm tightly around his waist and the other still clutching onto her books as she buried her head in his chest. Instantly, Mark's arms worked their way around Addison's slender figure as he held her tightly. "Addie." He breathed against the top of her head, placing a soft kiss against her hair._


	2. Columbia

**Second chapter. I've done it so you get a bit of background into the college days first. It makes more sense. And I'm pretty certain that the next few chapters will be in their college days too, or college/their relationship after college. You know what I mean.**

**I still own nothing, absolutely nothing. Other than Madagascar on DVD, which I'm watching right about now. 'Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.'**

**Italicy bits are flashbacks. Other than the dates underlined. They're just so you know what's going on, when. That make sense? Reviews are really appreciated, they are.  
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_Columbia University – September 3rd 1990_

"Who was she?" Derek asked his best friend, running his fingers through his girlfriends hair slowly.

"Shut up." Mark replied gruffly.

"Who was she?" Derek asked again, receiving a gentle nudge from Meredith.

"Leave it." Mark replied again, not looking up from the papers he had in front of him.

"But, who was she?"

"Derek, leave it." Meredith said softly, seeing that it was getting to Mark.

"But..." He began.

"Listen to your girlfriend, Shep. Leave it." Mark said, getting aggitated by Derek's questions. He wasn't in the mood to discuss Addison, not now. After she had suddenly moved into his arms, she had remained there for a few minutes, before pulling away and saying that she shouldn't do it, and she'd see him around. But something about the way she had spoken and the look in her eyes, told Mark that she wouldn't if she didn't have to. That she would avoid him at all costs.

They were in Mark and Derek's dorm room, with Derek's girlfriend, Meredith. Derek had suggested ordering chinese food, Mark had said he wasn't hungry, and after Derek ordered some food, it had led to him asking about the red head that Mark had met in their first class of the day. A conversation which Mark didn't want to have.

"Is she...?" Derek wasn't going to say anymore than that, he was just wondering if it was the girl that Mark had mentioned not long after they had met.

"Yes. Now, shut up." Mark said as she scribbled out some of the words he had just written, he was having a hard time concentrating on his work. If he hadn't seen Addison, he'd probably be done by now, but he couldn't think.

"All right." Derek said quietly, placing a small kiss on Meredith's head before getting up from the sofa. "I'm gonna have a shower." It wasn't an invite to Meredith, it was just a statement, plus, he didn't particularly want Mark to be left alone. Even though he hadn't really heard much about the woman, he knew enough.

"I'll..." Meredith started as she looked over to Mark and then up to Derek, only to be cut off by a nod from her boyfriend.

Five minutes later, and Mark and Meredith were both standing in the small kitchen area, Mark pouring himself his fifth cup of coffee of that evening. It had become his drug, it was how he had got through college, because if it wasn't for coffee, there were quite a few assignments that wouldn't have been finished in time. Thankfully, coffee was the answer and Mark had appreciated it.

He never used to like the stuff, but Addison had always liked a Vanilla Latte from this small coffee place in town, and he ended up not thinking it was too bad. The coffee, not so much the vanilla latte that she had. That was a girls drink, or at least Mark thought it was anyway.

"She's right. I should be at Stanford." Mark said quietly, stirring the sugar he'd added into his coffee.

"What?" Meredith questioned softly, not wanting to pry too much into his personal life.

"She told me that I shouldn't be here, that Stanford was my choice. She's right."

"When?"

"Today. When she saw me, she told me I shouldn't be here. Stanford was my choice, Columbia was hers. I don't know why I changed my mind." Truth was, he did know why. It was because of her, because he hoped that she wouldn't change her mind and she'd be there. She was stubborn like that.

"I don't want to ask too much, because I don't want you to get mad, but who is she?" Meredith asked as she decided that a small cup of coffee wouldn't do much harm, even though she had every intention of sleeping that night.

"She... Addison... She was my girlfriend in high school. She..." Mark didn't know what to say, she was Addison, that was enough of an explanation in his opinion, but he knew both Derek and Meredith would disagree. "I moved away. It was... I don't know."

Meredith knew that Mark wasn't one for words, but this seemed harder than it usually did for him to talk about, she knew that there was probably more than both she and Derek knew about the situation. "It's all right, you don't have to talk about it. I was just wondering."

"I screwed up, Meredith." He whispered before walking back to the desk where he had spent the past few hours seated. He wasn't sure why, but with this thing, he found it easier to talk to Meredith about it. Maybe because he wanted a female opinion on the situation, or because he knew Derek wouldn't understand.

"It gets easier, Mark. It takes a while, but it does get easier." She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze before walking into the small room that belonged to Derek, a place she'd probably end up spending more time at than her own dorm room. She was yet to meet her room mate, but Meredith wasn't exactly people friendly, so it was probably best she stuck with the people she knew; Derek and Mark.

"It hasn't yet." Mark mumbled to himself before drinking some of the hot liquid, his eyes scanning over the words on his book, he wasn't reading it. He wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to it, but he needed a distraction, something to take his mind off that red head. Clenching his fist, Mark let out a deep sigh, he needed to stop thinking about her. About her bright smile, her infectious giggle, the way her hand used to fit perfectly in his own, how she used to snuggle closer to him in the night without realising it. They had been young, teenagers, still in high school, but he had been in love with Addison Montgomery. And moving on from that, it was harder than he'd expected.

It was true, Stanford had been his choice, because he'd wanted to start his career down in Los Angeles, so it made sense for him to get used to California, but something had changed his mind. When he had sat down with Derek and Meredith, deciding on what Med school they were going to attend, as soon as his two best friends said Columbia, Mark thought of Addison, he thought of how that was her choice.

_Sometime in March 1985_

_"Columbia. You?" The red head asked as she glanced up from her biology work, straight into the eyes of her boyfriend._

_"Stanford." He replied softly, keeping his gaze on hers._

_"Right." She was annoyed, he could sense it, but they'd already chosen different colleges, let alone med school. "Stanford." She repeated as she looked back down to her work, scribbling something on the paper that she could barely read herself._

_"Addie." Mark pleaded gently as he reached over and placed his hand on her arm._

_"What, Mark?" She questioned, flinching away from him slightly._

_He didn't know what he had wanted to say, so instead he just settled for the three words he said to her all the time. "I love you."_

_It brought a smile to her face, he knew it would, and that brought a smile to his face. "You're an ass." She sighed as she pushed her hand across the desk, moving his hand slightly so that it would cover her own small hand._

_"You love me." He replied, giving her hand a gentle squeeze._

_"I love you." Addison copied his words, a smile on her face as she looked back down to the work in front of her._

_It didn't matter what was going to happen in four years time, all that mattered was the two of them in that moment._

He couldn't just say no, he couldn't not come to Columbia, because there was that slightest possibilty that she wouldn't change her mind and he'd see her there. That he'd tell her all over again that he was in love with her. In his opinion, it never got old. But he couldn't do that, because from what he could work out, by the look on her face as she pulled away from him, the way she had said 'Goodbye' to him before she walked away. Addison didn't want to be part of his life anymore, he knew she didn't.

Pushing the papers away from him on the desk, Mark stood up, finishing the rest of his coffee in one go, before grabbing his jacket off the back of chair. He needed to get some fresh air, he needed to get out of the place and think. Because clearly trying to work wasn't helping, so maybe if he actually thought about things, maybe that would help.

Slamming the door a little harder than intended, it would give Derek and Meredith their alone time, because he was sick and tired of listening to their antics in the bedroom. Especially when he hadn't got anything over summer break, absolutely nothing. Which, for Mark Sloan, was saying a he walked outside onto the New York street, Mark had no idea where he was going, he just wanted to walk, find somewhere to be alone and think about everything, about that red haired woman he'd tried his best to forget. Obviously, that hadn't gone too well. Because she had been there, right in front of him, and he just wanted to feel her lips against his own again, pull her tightly into his arms and tell her he was sorry and that he still loved her.

"Damn it, Mark." He muttered to himself, clenching both of his hands into fists in his jacket pockets, he needed to stop thinking about her. There was the option of going to a bar, picking up some girl, releasing his frustration that way, but it wouldn't solve anything. Nothing at all. It would probably end up making things worse for him anyway.

Ten minutes later and he was making his way into Central Park, there was a little area he had found that looked out onto one of the lakes in the Park, with a pretty cool view of New York as well. At least, as good as you could get from sitting on a bench in Central Park looking out at the city. As he reached the bench he planned on sitting on, there was already someone there, someone familiar to him. It was either fate, or, well, bad luck maybe. But he couldn't avoid this, even if she got up and walked away, or they just sat there in silence, he wanted to sit down beside her.

Slowly, he made his way over to the bench and silently took a seat beside her, not too close, but not too far. Near enough to let her know it was him, but far away enough to stop her from pushing him, or doing something. "Hey." The word came out slightly choked and he kept his hands in his pockets, looking out onto the lake. It was peaceful, there were still a few people walking around, but no one that was liable to interrupt them. That was, considering Addison didn't get up and walk away.

"Hey." She whispered quietly, moving her gaze from the spot on the ground she had been staring at for the past hour to look up at the figure who was sitting nervously beside her. She'd seen him a lot of different ways, but never nervous.

"I... Uh... How are you?" He needed to stop asking that, or at least stop changing the way he was asking it.

"I've been better." She answered honestly, not taking her eyes off of him, watching him stare straight ahead of himself. "How about you?"

"I don't know." He mumbled with a shrug, slowly bringing his gaze to hers, his eyes falling onto her grey eyes. "I thought I did, I thought I was fine. I **was** fine. Then, you were there, and I wasn't." It hadn't even been that long ago, it was that same day, but he had believed that everything was good, but laying his eyes on his red head, he knew that it wasn't.

"You don't get to blame me." She whispered.

"I'm not, it's just harder seeing you than I thought."

"I know what you mean."

Mark felt her move closer and her head was soon resting on his shoulder, he wanted to put his arm around her and just hold her, but he didn't want to scare her off, he didn't want to push her away. One step at a time, right?

_September 14th 1990_

He remembered it perfectly, the way her red hair had stuck together because of the rain as they stood on his street yelling. How she had looked so vulnerable as she had said his name when they got back to his house, letting him know she wanted him to make love to her. It wasn't sex, it wasn't just a quick fuck, it was something more than that. It had always been something more than that.

To make things better, it was raining. Not that it was all that surprising in fall in New York, but Mark had hoped when he was awoken that morning that it had just been in a dream, that the rain crashing against his bedroom window wasn't actually there. Then, he heard the familiar sound of his room mates voice. "MARK!"

"What?" Mark muttered back, loud enough for Derek to hear.

"We're gonna be late!"

"I'm not going."

"We've been here less than two weeks, you can't skip class."

"I can, Derek. Just leave it. But if you see Addison, tell her I'm sorry."

"What..." Mark jumped at the sound of his bedroom door being slammed open. "did you do?"

Mark rolled his eyes and pulled a pillow over his face, why did he decide that having a room mate at med school was a good idea? Because right at that second, sharing a room with his best friend was annoying. "Nothing. She'll understand. Just tell her I said that I'm sorry."

"I don't believe you, but because you're my best friend, I will." That was all Derek said before slamming the bedroom door and leaving his best friends room. Quickly, he grabbed his things, he hated the rain, but at the same time, he loved it. It wasn't far to the lecture, but he knew that he was going to get soaked on the way.

As he opened his dorm room door, he was met by the last person he was ever expecting to see stood at his door way, soaked through, mascara down her cheeks, and he couldn't work out whether it was because she had been crying, or because of the rain. "Is Mark..." She began to question, falling silent at Derek's nod, and he pointed towards Mark's bedroom.

"He said he's sorry. That you'd understand." Derek said quietly before leaving the door open for Addison to do what she wanted to do, whether she went in to see Mark, or decided to leave. If she chose the latter, he hoped that she had enough sense to close the door. In fact, either way, he hoped she had enough sense to close the door behind her.

Addison stood there, she had come to his for reasons unknown to her, but as she had left her door room, she had automatically found herself heading to Mark's room. A place she had only been to once, and that was only for all of two minutes, but she remembered it perfectly. Taking a deep breath, Addison walked into the room, closing the door quietly behind her, taking small slow steps over to the door that Derek had pointed out as Mark's. Placing her hand on the door, she froze, what if he was naked? Or there was another woman in there? Then again, she'd seen him naked before, and Derek wouldn't have let her in if Mark had someone else in there, would he?

Slowly, she pushed open the door, to be met with the sound of Mark's gruff voice. "What now? If you've come to ask more questions, just leave it." There was a pillow covering his face, the blankets only covering the bottom half of his body and Addison wrapped her arms tightly around her waist.

"It's me." She surprised herself that the words actually came from her lips and as she saw him quickly push the pillow from his face and look towards the door, she smiled weakly at him.

"Addie, you're soaking." Without thinking, Mark quickly got up out of bed, for once, he'd actually worn boxers shorts at night, and he walked over to the straggly looking figure in front of him. "You walked here?" He questioned as he pulled a clean towel from his closet and wrapped his around her shivering body.

Addison nodded her head at his question, looking up at him as he tried his best to dry her and warm her up at the same time. "You're not going in?" She asked as her eyes trailed around his room. It wasn't too messy, but there were a few items of clothing strewn over the floor, but it screamed Mark all over it. It was just a plain dorm room, but he'd made it his own already.

"You're not." He stated, not answering her question, leaving her where she was to retrieve a pair of sweat pants and t-shirt from his drawers, walking back over to her, he held them out to her.

"You didn't answer me." Addison said quietly, looking down at the clothes and back up again.

"I didn't feel like it." He said, pushing the clothes towards her a little more, his way of telling her to take them.

"Where's the bathroom?" She asked as she took the clothes from him.

"Just on your right." He nodded his head to the door to the right of his room, the small room that separated his room from Derek's.

Addison just nodded her head and slowly walked to the bathroom, locking the door behind her, she still didn't really know why she was there, she'd hardly spoken to him since the night in the park when he'd found her sitting at the bench. But for some reason, she needed him, she needed his comfort.

When she emerged five minutes later, changed into Mark's clothes, she saw him sitting down, sitting in a pair of sweats and a hoodie on the sofa, staring at the television that had some stupid show on. She placed her wet clothes along with the towel down on a chair and walked over to the sofa and sat close beside him, pulling her legs up against her chest and hugging them against herself, leaning against him slightly.

They both sat there staring at the television, it was obvious neither of them were paying attention to it, but neither knew what to say. But she couldn't sit there in silence, not any longer. "I'm tired." She whispered, she wasn't just tired at that moment, she was always tired. Since she'd got to med school, she had been tired. Since she'd seen Mark, she'd hardly slept.

"Sleep then."

"I can't."

"Why not?" Mark asked turning his head to face her slightly.

"I don't know. I just can't. I'm exhausted." She murmured, snuggling against Mark a little more as she felt his arm around her.

"I'm here. Just sleep, Addie. I'm here." Mark whispered as he pressed his lips lightly against the top of her still wet hair, and he felt her arm slide across his stomach and grip him tightly.

"You're here." As she said those words, a small smile crept upon her face as she let her eyes flutter closed, she felt content, for the first time in a while, she felt content, and that was because she had Mark's arm tightly around her.

It was surreal, having Addison tightly in his arms as she slept, it had been so long since they'd been in a position remotely like this, but he wasn't going to trade it for the world. He wasn't going to push her away, because he needed this as much as she did. He needed her there as much as she needed him. This was their day, in a strange kind of way, this was their day. It had been their goodbye, the last time they had shown one another just how they felt. All Mark hoped for was that she hadn't turned up on this day, only for it to be another goodbye.

At least two hours had passed, if not more, and Mark hadn't paid any attention to the television whatsoever, he'd sat there staring at it, that was it. His mind was on the red head who was snuggled against him, who had a small smile on her face right at that moment as she let out a soft sigh.

"Mark." He heard her voice, causing him to instantly look down at her.

"I'm here." Another kiss against the top of her head as he felt her reach for his hand, maybe it was just a comfort thing, but he wasn't complaining.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, burying her head into his chest a little more.

"Don't be. I'm sorry."

"All right. I don't want to talk about it now."

"I'm not going anywhere, Addie. I'll always be here when you need me."

"That's all I need to know." As soon as she had spoken, she felt his hand squeeze hers and her eyes closed again, once again drifting off into a peaceful slumber.


	3. Snow

**Thanks for the reviews. I'd appreciate it if I got more though. I'm gonna keep updating, despite the reviews, because I know where this is going. **

**Still, I don't own anything. This laptop I'm on at the moment, I own that. **

**Read, review. Thanks.**

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She had awoken to an empty space beside her, he had said that he wasn't going to leave, that he'd always be there. Then again, he'd said that before back in high school and look where that had got things, he had left, she had his child, gave it up, and now four years later they were in med school together. She had a blanket over her small frame, that was something that hadn't been there before, it had just been the warmth of Mark beside her, his arm tightly around her body.

As she stirred slightly on the sofa, she pulled the blanket up a little more, opening her eyes completely as she looked around, she couldn't see him, which worried her a little bit. Maybe he'd realised that he shouldn't be there with her, and left her alone until she woke up and left his dorm. No, Mark wouldn't do that, he wasn't that type of guy. He wouldn't have left before if it hadn't been for his Father, he'd said that. Mark was a good guy, wasn't he? Addison wasn't sure whether she even knew him any more, but none the less, she was giving him a chance. A chance to prove that every hurtful thing she had said about him in the past four years was a lie, that he was a good guy, that he did still care. She needed it, for herself more than anything.

As she sat up on the sofa, blanket still covering her, she noticed a small piece of paper on the coffee table, his messy scrawl over it.

_Addie,_

_I went to get something to eat, I'm coming back. Don't worry._

_If you want anything, just have a look around. It's probably best that you don't go near Derek's room though, I don't even go in there._

_I won't be long, promise._

_Don't leave._

_Mark_

_xx_

As she read it, she couldn't help but smile to herself, she wasn't going to leave, because she wanted to be there, she wanted to spend more time with Mark. But she knew that even if she wanted to go back to sleep, she wouldn't be able to, because Mark wasn't there. The first two weeks of med school weren't meant to be this difficult, she knew what she was doing, but apparently they were. Though, it was more down to lack of sleep than anything else.

Reaching for the television remote, she began to flick through the channels to find something to watch, leaning against the back of the sofa, and a few minutes later she heard the door open, causing her to instantly look up, hoping it was Mark returning with whatever food he'd gone to get.

"Oh, hi." It was Derek, it wasn't that she didn't want to see him, she just wanted it to be Mark, she wanted to curl up beside him and have him hold her.

"I'm just waiting for Mark." She said quietly, fiddling with one of the corners of the blanket.

"It's cool. I'm just back to grab a couple of books, then I'll leave you alone."

"You don't have to." The last thing she wanted was for him to feel awkward in his own dorm room.

"No, it's fine. I find it easier to study at the library anyway. Mark prefers noise, I prefer the quite." Derek muttered as he grabbed a couple of books off one of the desks.

"He always did." She said as a smile crept on her face at the thought of Mark sitting at the other desk, music blaring out as he studied.

"I know it's not really my place to say anything, but he's my best friend, and you seem like a good person. But when I met him, he was screwed up, I don't know what it was. He never told me at first, just used to say something about a red head he missed. That he'd made a mistake and he didn't know how to make things right. He loved you, and I'm pretty sure that's something that never changed." Derek said as he held his hand on the door handle, he wasn't quite sure why he was telling a woman he barely knew that, but he felt as though she needed to know something about Mark. That he hadn't stopped speaking to her on purpose, it was Mark's way of coping with not seeing her again.

"I... Thank you." She whispered, watching him nod his head before leaving her alone in Mark's room. Did Mark still love her? He couldn't, he had surely met someone in college, someone better than her. Addison had believed she'd been in love with Christopher, but after all the cheating, she decided enough was enough. It hadn't been love, because when she had first seen Mark, when he had placed his hand on her shoulder, she got all those feelings again and she wanted it to stay.

Another ten minutes of flicking through the television, she heard the door open again, this time she was met with the figure she had hoped for the first time; Mark. He was holding a bag which looked as though it was a take out bag. It was too early for something like that, wasn't it? Then again, this was New York, things were open for 24 hours that she wouldn't expect to be. "Hey." She whispered as she looked up at him.

"You're awake." He simply stated walking over to the kitchen counter, taking the small boxes out of the bag, only to feel a presence beside him. Turning his head, he saw Addison, still looking tired, blanket wrapped around her small frame as she looked to see what he had. "I got your favorite, don't worry."

This caused Addison to look up at him, a look of complete shock spread across her face. He remembered? He actually remembered. "You.. You remember?" She'd been doing an awful lot of stuttering lately.

"It's nothing, I was just there, saw it on the menu, you know." Mark shrugged, not wanting it to be made into a big deal. So, he remembered her favorite food from the chinese, what did it matter?

"You remembered." This time it was more cheerful, almost teasing, and there was a grin across her face as she nudged him slightly. "Thank you for remembering." Addison said, looking up at Mark before picking up a couple of the take out boxes and carrying them over to the coffee table. It was, what, two in the afternoon, and they were sitting inside eating chinese food.

She took her place on the sofa and leant over, attempting to pull the coffee table closer, only to stop when she heard Mark chuckle. "Not putting much effort into it, are you?" He teased, carrying the other two take out boxes over to the coffee table.

"Shut up." Addison muttered as she leant back, a pout on her lips, looking defeated. She watched as Mark moved the coffee table closer to her before turning his back and going into the kitchen. "Orange juice." She said simply, a smile on her lips as she watched him turn around.

"You never change." He responded as he opened the refrigerator, taking out the carton of orange juice, and grabbing a couple of glasses before going over to the sofa and sitting down beside Addison, placing the two glasses down along with the orange juice.

"You wouldn't want me to."

"You're right. I like you, just how you are." It was the truth, he wouldn't want her to change a single thing about her, he still cared for the woman a lot. It just wasn't as simple as things had been before.

_November 27th 1990_

"Thanksgiving." It was all Meredith said, but it was enough to receive a dirty look from Mark and an eye roll from Derek. Mark had never been one for holidays, and Derek always spent them with his family. This time, they'd decided to just have the four of them together; Derek, Mark, Meredith and Addison. They still had two days before Thanksgiving, but Meredith was one for making plans more than two days in advance.

"We don't need to do the traditional thing." Derek said as he glanced warily in Mark's direction, hoping for something back from his best friend.

"Addison likes holidays, they're her thing. We're doing the traditional thing." Mark sighed as he looked out of the window, it was forecast snow, but so far they'd got nothing. They were far from being a couple, but he still wanted her to be happy, to enjoy the holidays with them all.

"You hate holidays." Derek reminded Mark quietly.

"But Addison doesn't. We're doing this, whole, stupid thanksgiving thing, because you like holidays, Meredith likes holidays, and most of all, Addison does too. It doesn't matter what I like at the moment, because it's three against one, and I want her to be happy." His voice was angry, but he didn't know why. He didn't need Derek continuously reminding him that he didn't like holidays. Well, Thanksgiving. Mark didn't like Thanksgiving. "I'm going out."

"Buy a turkey!" Meredith yelled from Derek's room that she had escaped to when she heard Mark raise his voice, she knew it wasn't going to be a pretty sigh, so avoiding it was best.

"You don't have a turkey?" He heard Derek ask, as he grabbed his wallet and jacket, pushing his wallet in his back pocket before slipping his jacket on.

"I've been busy!" Meredith argued as she walked out of the bedroom towards Derek.

"It's all right, Grey. I'll get a turkey. Anything else?" Mark questioned as he stood in the doorway, waiting for he to answer.

"Veg? I don't know. I haven't got anything to be honest." She replied quietly, looking awkwardly down at the floor.

"I've got it, Grey." Mark responded before walking out the door, closing it a little harder than intended, walking down the hallway. He had no idea what to get really, he hadn't had a thanksgiving dinner in four years. Even before that, it hadn't been a big holiday for Mark's family ever, but things happened and he'd refused to celebrate it. This year was different, this year Addison was around again, and he knew that celebrating it would make her happy.

As he opened the front door onto the street, a smile formed on his face at what he saw; snow. He'd always been a bit of a kid at heart when it came to snow, it was the only thing that he got like it about. Most people would probably turn around and go back inside, but Mark didn't care. He wanted to go out, he needed to get stuff for thanksgiving, and he was going to get it. After closing the door, Mark pushed his hands into his pockets and made his way down the street, there was a grocery store not too far from where he was, so hopefully, he could get everything he needed. Hopefully, he still manage to get a turkey two days before thanksgiving.

With ten minutes of walking through the cold New York air, Mark was walking through the entrance of Trader Joes to get their thanksgiving dinner. Pulling a shopping cart from where they were just inside of the door, he had no idea where to start, or what to get. This was going to be a fun shopping trip, he knew it. As if he didn't hate shopping enough, he had to do this alone.

Or, so he thought. Just as he began to walk down one of the aisles, he heard a familiar voice and a smile spread across his face as he turned around to see his favorite red head. In fact, she was his favorite person. Period. "Mark." She said fairly quietly, but loud enough for him to hear.

"Hey." Mark replied as he stood there watching her walk towards him. She wasn't dressed in her usual attire of skirt, heels and shirt of some form. She was wearing a pair of jeans that hugged her legs perfectly, a pair of flat shoes and one of his hoodies, that was far too big for her. Even though things were still getting back on track with her, it made him smile to see her comfortable enough to wear his sweatshirt out. As though she was saying she was off the market to other guys, because she was wearing someone else's hoodie. It was stupid, but he didn't care.

"I... You want help?" She questioned, as she stopped about a foot in front of him.

"Is this where you usually pick up guys, huh?" He teased, brushing a few strands of loose hair from her face.

Addison felt herself blush as she looked down at the ground, letting a small sigh escape her lips as she looked back up at him. "It's snowing." She answered, ignoring his question.

"It's snowing." Mark copied her words, quietly.

"Do you want some help?" She asked again, glancing at his cart and back to him.

"I have no idea what to get, so some help would be good."

"You push the cart, I'll pick out things."

"All right." Mark said quietly as he turned back to the cart, pushing it slowly as Addison walked alongside him. "How'd you know I was here?"

"I saw you." She responded, her cheeks flushing pink again.

"Stalking me?" He teased.

"Something like that." Addison said as she took a packet of Oreo's off the shelf.

"For thanksgiving?" He asked as he watched her put the Oreo's in the cart.

"I want them." She replied simply, looking up at Mark.

"I never said you couldn't have them."

"Good. Because I'd find a way to get you to buy them for me anyway." A childish grin spread across her lips as she looked up at him before continuing her way down the aisle.

"How?" Mark asked as he moved beside her, the lonesome pack of Oreo's still the only thing in the cart.

"You ask too many questions, Mark Sloan. Just be quiet, and then we can take all this back to yours and then we can go for a walk in the snow. One where we're not carrying shopping."

"You're too bossy."

"I am not." Addison snapped back quickly, as she slowly began placing things in the cart, some of which she knew they wouldn't need, others they would.

All Mark could do was scoff at Addison's words, she was bossy, but it wasn't a flaw. Definitely not. He loved bossy Addison, he loved angry Addison, as well as sad, sick, happy, grumpy and sleepy Addison. But he did need to stop naming dwarfs.

"Shut up." Addison glared in his direction as she put a couple more things in the cart.

"Bossy." Mark teased a small grin on his face only to receive a small nudge from Addison, telling him to be quiet. "Hey, it's not a bad thing. In fact, you look good when you're bossy. Actually, you do all the time."

"Mark." Addison pleaded quietly as he looked at him, not wanting him to continue where he was going with it all.

"All right. Grocery shopping, I'm shutting up."

"Thank you."

The pair continued around the store for about twenty-five more minutes before Addison decided they had everything they needed and if not, they could come back later or the next day. Mark had no idea what there was in the cart, he'd just followed Addison around, waiting for her to put things in the cart. There were probably things they didn't need, but he didn't care, it was keeping Addison happy.

After Mark had paid for everything they had, thankfully, including a turkey and more vegetables than they'd need, they were making their way back to Mark's dorm. It was still snowing, not too much, but enough to settle, which made Mark happy, and seemed to make Addison happy too. They could go back, put things away, and go out, like Addison had said before, take a walk through Central Park.

"It was us, wasn't it? The snow?" Addison asked quietly as they walked down the street back to Mark's.

"Yeah, the snow was us." Mark answered with a smile as he looked at Addison, she looked happy, truly happy, and he couldn't help but wonder whether that was something to do with him.

The rest of the walk back was filled with silence, but it was one of those comfortable ones that always seemed to fill the air when Mark and Addison were concerned. As Mark opened the door to his room, struggling slightly, his ears were met with the far too familiar sound of Derek and Meredith having sex. Letting out a low groan, he turned to Addison as he spoke. "You don't have to come in, I can put the things away that need to go away and then we can go for that walk."

Addison shook her head slightly, a smile on her face. "I'll help you, it'll get done quicker." She replied softly, nudging him for him to go inside.

"All right." He replied as he walked in, placing the bags down on the floor. A part of him was tempted to yell at his two friends to keep it down for a minute, but he decided against it.

The two of them found themselves hurrying to put the things away, not speaking and trying to think of something to distract themselves from the sound of the noise from Derek's bedroom. It was moments like this when Mark hated his best friend, he really did. It was bad enough that he had to put up with the sound of Meredith's screams when they were having sex, but having Addison there just made things awkward.

Five minutes later and they were standing back outside the door, Addison's face had a pink tinge to it, and she looked awkwardly up at Mark. "Are the... Are they usually..."

"That loud?" Mark interrupted, watching Addison nod her head. "That's actually quite quiet for them." He answered honestly slowly moving from near the door, so that they could make their way back outside.

"Why do you live with that?" Addison wondered, as she looked up with Mark, who seemed embarrassed by the situation they'd just been in.

"Because Derek's my best friend, and I've learnt to block it out. Plus, where else have I got to go?"

"I guess."

As they walked out of the building, the snow was heavier than it had been when they had gone inside, but this just caused the two of them to smile more as Addison looped her arm through Mark's, holding him close to herself. She'd missed this, this sort of comfort she got from Mark just by something so simple, but she wanted to hang onto it for as long as she possibly could. Because who knew how long it was going to last. There was so much that had gone on between the two, still so much that he didn't know, so hanging onto this, it meant everything to Addison.

They were gone for a good hour and a half, just walking through Central Park, in the snow, talking and laughing about things which didn't have my importance to anything. They were both avoiding any talk of that might get to each other, it just seemed easier that way. They were content that way. The snow calmed the two of them, after all, it was their thing.


	4. Holidays

**I still own nothing. Although, I did eventually invest in Private Practice on DVD the other day. My plan is to spend all day on Thursday watching it, before Season Two airs on Living.**

**But the characters, Mark, Addison, Derek and Meredith, still belong to our beloved Shonda. Who did ruin Mark and Addison, which I'm still kind of hung up on. As you can tell.**

**Read. Review. Thank you kindly.**

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Thanksgiving came and went, Mark hated it just as much as he did every year, but this time, seeing Addison's face as Derek placed the turkey on their makeshift dining table, was enough to make him enjoy it just that little bit more. Addison would cast small glances in his direction, a smile on her face each time she looked at him, and thankfully she'd spent enough time with Derek and Meredith to get to know them and like them. Minus hearing them have ridiculously loud sex a few days before. They'd laughed about it, made a few jokes and gone on to talking about something else. After dinner, they'd settled down to watch a movie, one that both Meredith and Addison had decided on and Mark and Derek had no choice in. But just having Addison curled up beside him was enough for Mark, whether he enjoyed the movie or not.

He'd walked her home that night, despite offering his bed while he slept on the sofa, she had refused to let him do it. Mentioned something about having to study, but the thought was nice. Though, it was probably the fact that she didn't want to endure a night of listening to Derek and Meredith in the bedroom, because the five minutes had been long enough when they'd been putting the groceries away. There wasn't a chance that Mark was going to ruin things with Addison by hoping for something that she didn't want. So, they were friends, nothing more. Despite Meredith continually telling him that she knew how women's minds worked and that Addison just didn't want to get hurt. So, maybe waiting was a good idea. She'd be worth the wait though, Addison would always be worth the wait.

_December 18th 1990_

Almost three weeks had passed since Thanksgiving and Meredith and Addison had developed a friendship, and the amount of times that Mark and Derek had walked in on the two of them giggling about something over a tub of ice cream was shocking. Mark had tried his best to get out of Meredith what Addison wanted for Christmas, but she'd refused to say a word, and said that it wasn't her place to interfere. Of course, Mark wouldn't usually mind, but he had exactly a week until Christmas Day. One week, and Mark hated shopping at the best of times, but he wanted to get Addison something, anything. It didn't matter that they were only friends, she meant a lot to him.

"Give me a clue." He whined like a five year old as Meredith studied a cookery book. She was far from being good in the kitchen and why Derek had decided that it was a good idea to buy her the book, Mark would never know.

"Mark, just ask her yourself."

"I can't just go up to her and ask her what she wants for Christmas, there's no fun in that." He complained, peering over her shoulder to see what she was doing, only to receive her elbow in his stomach. "What was that for?"

"Whining like a five year old, pestering me about Addison, making sure I'm doing this right." Meredith glared at Mark for a few seconds before returning to the book, muttering the instructions to herself.

"I just want to make sure it's special for her, you know?" Mark muttered feeling slightly defeated at Meredith's little outburst as he leant against the counter, crossing his arms over her chest. "I'm sure she has plans with her family or something over Christmas, but I want to get her a gift."

"I assume you're spending Christmas at Derek's again?" Meredith pondered as she poured something into the bowl in front of her.

"When have I not spent it at Derek's in the time I've know him?" It was rhetorical, but no doubt because it was Meredith who he was talking to, there'd be some sort of response.

"You have a family." Meredith pointed out, looking up at Mark. Rolling her eyes when he scoffed at her comment.

"So do you." He retaliated, causing her to glare at him once again and look back down at the bowl and the cookery book. "Who, I'm sure would be delighted to see their daughter over Christmas, because when was the last time they saw you Meredith? Because I'm almost certain you spent the whole summer either crashing at mine or Derek's."

"You live at Derek's!" Meredith said as she looked up at Mark. "Well, practically."

"I live here now, Derek does too. So, yes, you're right. We live together."

"Can we just quit this whole happy family conversation before it's gets started. I know that Derek's got this amazing family, as I'm sure Addison does. We're just gonna get sucked into it, all right? This happy time of year, spread joy to the world and that crap."

"You hate holidays." Mark said blankly.

"I hate all holidays but Halloween and Thanksgiving."

"You get candy at Halloween, that's the only reason."

"And the stupidly scary movies." Meredith said with a grin on her face, pointing to something out of her reach, in a way that Mark would hopefully guess she wanted it.

"You're meant to be doing this, not me. I just want information." Mark muttered as he placed whatever it was she had been pointing at down on the counter in front of her. He had no idea what it was, he saw her point, he turned around, picked it up and passed it to her.

"Which you're not going to get." Meredith reminded him, a sly smile on her face.

"I don't know how Derek does it, I really don't."

"I don't know why Addison's doing it." She retaliated, smirking slightly.

"Addison's doing nothing, we're friends. That's it."

"Only you like her a lot more than a friend."

"I've always liked her a lot more than a friend, I'm just waiting and hoping that I'm more than a friend to her." Mark said quietly, looking at what Meredith was doing once again, not paying attention to Meredith looking at him.

"Just be patient Mark, this isn't easy for her either."

"I'm being patient. Meredith, this is me, I don't wait around for anyone. It's December, we've been here since September, in that time, I haven't slept with a single woman. I haven't even kissed a single woman, other than the odd one I've placed on the top of Addison's head, or on her cheek. Not because I can't, but because I don't want to. Because I'd wait a year, I'm pretty sure I'd wait ten years if she wanted me to."

"You've got it bad, Mark Sloan."

"Don't I fucking know it."

As if right on cue, the door opened and in walked Derek and Addison, laughing about something, but Derek's laughter stopped as he saw Meredith in the kitchen, clearly attempting to make something. He'd got the book in hope they'd do some of the things together, but Meredith seemed to have taken it upon herself to do it alone. At least Mark was there to supervise the whole thing, well, as much as he possibly could with Meredith in the kitchen.

Mark's eyes fell upon the red head who was standing near the door, looking a little awkward as Derek started to talk to Meredith about this whole cooking thing. Holding his hand out towards Addison, he watched as the smile appeared on her face before she walked over to him, taking his hand in her own. "Hey." She whispered quietly, moving so she was close beside him.

"How's your day been?" Mark asked quietly, looking down at her.

"I've had better days, I've had worse." Addison sighed as she found her arm around Mark's waist, holding him close. "Mark?" She whispered as she looked up at him.

"Yeah?"

"Can I stay here tonight?" At that moment, that very moment, she looked so vulnerable, as though she was about to break down at any minute.

"Sure, I can deal with the sofa."

"No, it's all right. I could just do with some company, I just want...." She didn't finish her sentence, but she looked at Mark hoping her knew what she was going on about, only to receive a small nod from him.

"Are you sure that you're all right?" Mark asked curiously as he felt her head rest against his chest, her arm gripping him tighter.

"I think so." She whispered as she pulled away from Mark, taking his hand again before gently pulling him in the direction of the bedroom. She wasn't in the mood to spend time around Derek and Meredith having a small domestic over Meredith cooking, at least this way, she'd be able to just sit in Mark's company for a while without any interruptions.

Mark followed Addison into his room, closing the door behind him, watching her remove her coat and placing it alongside her purse on the floor, sliding her shoes from her feet before walking over to his bed and taking a seat on it against the wall, holding one of his pillows against her. "Addie?" Mark asked quietly, watching her look up at him and gently pat the space beside her on the bed. This wasn't usual Addison behaviour, there was something the matter with her, but he knew he'd just have to wait to find out what it was.

As Mark sat down beside Addison, he felt her body move closer to his and she leant her head against his shoulder, reaching for his hand at the same time. "Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing for Christmas?" She asked quietly, her voice barely a whisper.

"Probably going to Derek's, that's what I usually do. Why?"

"No reason."

"Addison." Mark warned carefully, not wanting to annoy her.

"I hate holidays." Was all she responded with.

"You love holidays." Mark reminded her, she'd always been the one to get excited over holidays, at least she had in high school. And since their 'reunion' she'd always said that she loved holidays, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, the usual ones.

"I don't. I hate them." She said quietly, lifting her head up from her shoulder, crossing her arms over her stomach as she stared straight ahead at the wall.

"Addison, I've known you for what, just over nine years, in that whole time, you've loved the holidays. I know I've not been around for the past four years, and I'm sorry, but a week ago, you were excited about Christmas, about going Christmas shopping. You asked me what to get Derek and Meredith for Christmas, even though you don't know them very well. You, of all people, love the holidays."

"That's a nice little speech you had there." Addison teased lightly, still looking at the wall ahead of her.

"Am I right?"

"I love the holidays." Addison mumbled, much against her own will, but it was true, she did love the holidays. She always had done, she always got excited about pretty much every holiday, or celebration. Though the ones with the snow, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, they always made her more cheerful than what any of the others did.

"What?" Mark asked, wanting her to say what she had just said again.

"I love the holidays." She repeated her words, only a little louder this time, a reluctant sigh passing through her lips as she done so.

"That's my girl." Mark smirked as wrapped his arm around her shoulder, gently pulling her against himself, pressing his lips to the top her red hair. "What brought that all on, anyway?"

"Nothing." Addison lied, leaning her head against his shoulder once again.

"Addison."

Silence fell between the two, Mark waiting for Addison to say something, and Addison hoping that Mark would just change the subject, even though she knew it was way too much to hope for. Mark chose to wait for Addison to say something, even if it did mean sitting there for hours, he'd wait for it.

After ten minutes of silence filling the air, Addison let out another reluctant sigh before looking up at Mark. "You really want to know?"

"Addison, where you're concerned, I always want to know, if you're willing to tell me." Mark said softly, trailing his fingers up and down Addison's arm.

"I don't have anywhere to go this year. It's gonna be me, alone in my dorm room, with a packet of chips, some ice cream, and some crap on television." Addison muttered, her eyes falling on a small stain on Mark's bed sheets.

"Want me to spend it with you, two packets of chips, a bit more ice cream, and some crap on television? I might even get you some chocolates too." Mark suggested, giving Addison a gentle squeeze around her shoulder.

"You're going to Derek's." Addison stated, not wanting to ruin his plans for her.

"Then, come to Derek's. I'm sure Carolyn won't mind one more around the table."

"I don't want to intrude. I can spend my day in pajamas, with chips, ice cream, crap TV, and maybe some chocolate."

"Or you could spend it with me, Derek, Meredith and Derek's family. Who I'm pretty sure will love you, because you're an amazing woman. I can go and speak to Derek now, because I'm certain he'll say yes." Mark replied hopefully. He wanted to spend time with Addison at Christmas, whether it did end up being with Derek's family or not, whether it was just the two of them at her apartment.

"Do you think, that maybe, we could have it just the two of us, maybe go and see them later on in the day?"

"You sure that's what you want?"

"Snow is our thing, and I'm hoping that they'll be snow on Christmas day. I want to spend the day with you, because since we got here, you've done everything you possibly can to make me feel like things are finally falling into place. As though you're making up for what happened, but you don't need to Mark, you really don't."

"I do." Mark interrupted, receiving a dirty glance from Addison, telling him to keep quiet.

"You've tried so hard to make up for the last four years, the last four years that you haven't been around, despite promising that you'll stay in touch when you left. You've been absolutely perfect, you really have. So, the least I can do, is spend Christmas day alone with you, because I'm pretty sure that it's what you're secretly hoping for, because we all make mistakes, Mark." That was an understatement, Addison knew it was, because if Mark had any idea about what had happened after he'd left, then he wouldn't be sitting where he was right at that moment.

"Can I talk now?" Mark questioned cautiously, waiting for Addison to nod or something to let him know that it was all right. When she did, Mark grinned at her, pressing his lips against the top of her head softly before he started to speak. "The last few months, since the day you tripped up rushing out of class, I've wanted to spend as much time with you as you'll let me. Other than the first few weeks, you've been pretty amazing at letting me be around you. I'm not doing it to make up for the last four years, maybe a little, but I'm doing it, because I want to spend time with you. Because even if we're only ever going to be friends, I'll be happy with that. But if you want Christmas with just the two of us, then we'll have Christmas, just the two of us."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive, Addie."

_December 22nd 1990_

It was three days before Christmas. Three Fucking Days. Three days, and Mark had no idea what to get Addison for Christmas. Derek and Meredith were pretty easy, he'd stuck to his usual type of gift for them, a Kama Sutra book and some other things like that. That was Mark's usual gift for the two of them, and he wasn't about to change that anytime soon. But Addison, he had no idea what to get her, absolutely no idea. He'd tried asking Meredith again, and Derek for that matter. None of them were much help, but this was Mark, he didn't know what to do. There hadn't been a single woman that he'd brought a Christmas present for before this, other than his Mom, Meredith, Carolyn and Addison. The first three were easy enough, Addison had been easy enough before, but not anymore.

"Come on, I need something."

"Take her shopping, see what catches her eye." Meredith stated simply, glancing up from the television to see Mark staring at her. "What?"

"You're not helping!"

"All right, in all the times you've been doing something, has she not mentioned something, or seen something she liked?"

"There was... I guess... But I doubt..." Mark started each sentence, without finishing them, knowing that it would just annoy Meredith even more.

"Go out. Buy whatever it is. Give it to her for Christmas." Meredith ended the conversation, and looked back at the television.

"You're no help, Grey." Mark muttered as he went into his room to grab his jacket and wallet, he was definitely going to be needing that. They'd decided on the day together, even with the protests from Derek, Meredith and Carolyn, who they had said they'd go and see at some point in the afternoon, after their Christmas dinner, but they just wanted some time together. Which had caused Meredith and Derek to question both Addison and Derek on separate occasions as to whether they were more than just friends. Which, they had both denied, because it was the truth.

As he walked back out of his room minutes later, he was met with the sight of Addison entering the apartment, a smile on her face as she looked over at him. It was almost as though she was up to something, but Mark wasn't going to question it, not yet anyway, because if did, he'd end up staying there and not actually going to get Addison's present. As he walked past Addison, Mark stopped and leant in, pressing his lips lightly against her cheek before he spoke quietly. "You look beautiful, by the way." As he pulled away, Mark grinned at Addison, before walking out of the door and heading down the hallway, stopping suddenly at the sound of his voice.

"Mark." It was Addison, a smile on her face as she walked towards him.

"Go back inside, I'm only going to do some Christmas shopping." He responded as he stood there watching her move closer.

"You need to stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?" Confusion clear across Mark's face.

"Complimenting me, kissing me cheek and then just walking off."

"I was stating the facts, it's not like I can kiss you anywhere else, and I was going out anyway." Mark replied to her, smiling as he saw her cheeks flush a light pink color.

"I'm not complaining about the compliments, but you don't give me enough time to say thank you. Christmas shopping, I know, if you need some help, I'm right here." Addison paused as she looked awkwardly down at the floor before back up to Mark, stepping closer to him as she reached for his hand. Her eyes searched his, and she found it somewhat amusing that he looked slightly nervous, but it didn't stop her and Addison reached up and lightly pressed her lips to his. Nothing too much, just a soft kiss that lasted no more than a few seconds before she pulled away. "Go do your Christmas shopping, Mark." Addison gently pushed him as she stepped away from him, letting go of his hand. "I'll see you later."

"Addison?" Mark asked, only to be silenced by her finger on his lips.

"A walk in the snow later. Go do your Christmas shopping."

"A walk in the snow later." Mark repeated as backed away slightly, watching Addison as she walked back down to the room, things were looking up. Maybe the holidays weren't so bad after all.

After waiting for Addison to go back into his dorm room, Mark then turned around and made his way downstairs and outside. It was cold, of course it was cold, it was New York two days before Christmas. It was bound to be cold. But right at that moment, Mark didn't care, because Addison had just kissed him. He had no idea what it meant, but it was something, it was progress. At least, Mark was hoping that it was progress, because taking a step back after that wouldn't be easy, not for him. It wasn't that he wanted to rush things, because he was fine with things how they were, even with the kiss, as long as he knew that sometime in the future, something would happen. He would wait for Addison, no matter what it took.

Mark hated shopping at the best of times, let alone two days before Christmas, but until his 'chat' with Meredith, he'd had no idea what to get Addison, which was stupid, because they'd walked past this jewellery store more times than he could remember, and each time, Addison had looked at the same necklace every time. It was nothing fancy, just a simple gold and white gold pendant on a white gold chain. It would cost him a lot more than he'd spent on anyone else, but he didn't care, he'd seen the look on Addison's face each time she'd seen it, and he loved seeing that smile. It made him smile.

When he reached the store, he looked in the window, and it was still there, still on display as it had been every single time he passed it. As he entered the store, there was a short old woman sitting behind the counter, and a couple looking at what he could only assume were wedding rings. But he didn't care, because he was here to buy the necklace and then back to his room, where hopefully, Addison would still be.

After a fifteen minute conversation with the old woman, Mark had finally paid for the necklace and it was on the counter in front of him in the small paper bag. A smile spread across his face at the thought of Addison's face as she opened it on Christmas, he couldn't wait, he really couldn't.

"She must be special." The woman said softly as she looked up at Mark, causing him to break free of his thoughts.

"She is. She really is." Mark responded as he picked up the bag, thanking the woman before leaving. Of course Addison was special, she was everything to him, absolutely everything.


	5. Lobsters

**Sorry this chapter is shorter than usual, and that it's taken forever to get up here. But life took over again. I hate how that happens.**

**Reviews are appreciated.**

**I own nothing. All characters belong to Shonda. And somewhere in here you'll find something that belongs to the writers of Friends.**

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"You get what you wanted?" Addison asked from the sofa as she looked up at Mark when he walked back into the apartment. Derek and Meredith had decided to go and do their last minute Christmas shopping, leaving Addison alone in the apartment. They'd said they'd wait until Mark got back, but Addison was happy to go through the channels and look for something to watch. But even with the amount of channels Mark and Derek had, she couldn't find anything.

"I did. Where are they?" Mark asked, walking into his room to put Addison's present in there, along with his jacket before going back into the living room.

"Shopping. You don't mind me waiting here, do you?" Addison questioned softly as she watched Mark walk over towards her and take a seat beside her.

"Why would I mind? It means I get more time with you." Mark replied with a grin as he put his arm around the red heads shoulder, gently pulling her closer to himself. "Anything good on TV?" He looked at the television to see what she was watching. "The A-Team? Since when have you been into the A-Team?"

"I'm not. But it was on, and there's nothing else to watch." She said quietly, leaning into him slightly. She didn't want to talk about the kiss, not right at that moment. She wanted to just sit there with Mark, enjoy his company.

"Nothing else?"

"Nope."

"You all right?" Mark asked as he looked down at her, feeling her nod her head against his arm. He didn't believe her, but this was Addison. She probably wouldn't tell him if continued to ask her, she'd talk in her own time. He knew that.

Looking towards the television, Mark tightened his grip around Addison, letting his head rest gently on top of hers just as he felt her arm move over his chest and hold onto him. This was something he could get used to, sitting like this with Addison, but they were moving at her pace, not his.

An hour and a half passed by and nothing was said, just silence between the two of them, staring at the television. Neither of them were really watching it, but it was a distraction. Something there to stare at while their thoughts lingered elsewhere. "Mark?" Addison said softly, moving from his grip as she looked up at him.

"Hmm?" Mark shifted on the sofa and looked at Addison who was turning to face him a little more.

She had no idea what to say now, she knew that there were so many things they needed to talk about, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Nothing." Letting out a defeated sigh, Addison moved from the sofa and got up, walking towards the refrigerator and getting out a bottle of water. She could feel his eyes on her and as much as she didn't want to turn around, she knew that she was going to have to.

As he watched her get out a bottle of water, Mark couldn't help but wonder what Addison had wanted to say, did she want to mention the kiss from earlier or was it something that was going to be avoided for a while longer. There was something bothering her, he knew that much, he just wanted to know what. "You can talk to me." He said quietly as he got up from the sofa and walked over to Addison.

Letting out a sigh, Addison nodded her head slightly as she looked up at the man who was now standing beside her, the man who she knew she was still in love with, despite not wanting to be on many occasions. "I know. It's complicated." Damn it, it was more complicated than he knew, but she couldn't just blurt out what she wanted to tell him, it wasn't that easy. Instead, she reached for his hand and interlocked their fingers together as she moved closer to him. "When I'm ready to talk about it, I'll talk to you, I promise. But it's not something that I can just say without thinking about it. I know me saying this makes it sound a million times worse than what it is, but it's not."

A look of genuine concern crossed Mark's face at Addison's words, was there something wrong with her? Was she sick, but just hiding it from everyone? "You're all right though? You've not got something wrong with you, where I'll end up losing you completely?" He didn't want to say it, he hated the thought of losing Addison.

"You mean, I'm not gonna suddenly drop dead on you?" Addison asked with an amused smile on her lips as she looked up at Mark. "No, I'm not. At least, I don't plan on letting that happen. I'm as healthy as a girl can be." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze as she moved closer, leaning her head against his chest as she wrapped her free arm around his body. "As for losing me completely, _you_ won't lose _me_. I'm just worried about it being the other way around."

Mark felt Addison's grip tighten around him after those last few words, as though she didn't want to let him go, but her words were playing on his mind. What was it that might make her lose him? As far as he could see, there was nothing that would make that happen, absolutely nothing. "You're not going to lose me, Addie. I promise." He pressed his lips to the top of her head, gently rubbing her back as she gripped onto him just as tightly.

"Don't make promises you might not keep." She whispered, slowly pulling away from him so she could look at him, tears visible in her eyes.

"It's not one I ever plan on breaking. I mean it, you won't lose me. Whatever this is that's going on in your mind, I'm not going anywhere." He replied. "I lost you once, because it was my own fault. I'm not letting it happen again."

"All right."

"Good. Want to watch the A-Team again?" He asked, his smile appearing back on his face.

"A-Team is good."

Mark raised his eyes at her, only to receive a slap on the arm.

"Fine. It's not that good, but it's something. Shut up."

"That's my girl."

The next few hours were pretty silent, the odd little remark was passed between the pair, but nothing too much. It was a comfortable silence and neither of them would've had it any other way. There were things to talk about, but Mark wasn't going to press matters, when Addison was ready, Addison would talk. It still worried him that she might decide that this wasn't what she wanted, that maybe she'd be better off with someone who hadn't hurt her in the past. But she was there, she wanted Christmas to just be the two of them and Mark wasn't going to refuse that.

"No. You asked for it, Derek. You started the whole damn thing." Meredith's voice rang through the room as the couple walked through the door. Mark and Addison were on the sofa, Addison's head resting on his lap as he ran his finger through her hair, both looking at the door as Derek and Meredith walked in.

"You threw the snowball first. Scared of a little snow now?" He teased his girlfriend, putting the shopping bags on the floor once he'd closed the door.

"No. You're just an ass." She rolled her eyes and noticed Mark and Addison on the sofa, a grin instantly appearing on her lips. "Well, look at you two."

Derek walked up behind his girlfriend, one arm sliding around her small waist as they stood there looking at Mark and Addison. "They look kinda cute, don't they?" He said to Meredith, both looking at Mark and Addison with grins on their face.

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen Mark act like this. It's new."

"Addison's different though. He actually cares about her." Derek said simply, before pressing his lips against Meredith's shoulder.

"Shut up, you two." Mark muttered before looking back down at Addison who was looking up at him.

"You care." She teased softly.

"I've always cared about you."

"It's true. He has." Derek chirped up, moving away from Meredith to take his jacket off and hung it up before taking Meredith's jacket from her. "You're like his crab or something."

"Lobster!" Meredith corrected as she hit Derek in the chest. "Crab? What the hell? She's his lobster."

"See, because Derek mentioned crab, it makes it seem like she's a disease." Mark looked down at Addison. "No offence." Before looking back up at Meredith and Derek. "But Grey, what the hell?"

"You men! I swear, you're all as dumb as one another."

"I get what you mean. He's mine too." Addison said quietly as she looked over at Meredith, a small smile on her lips.

"See, that's what I'm grateful for. Another woman around here. There's too much damn testosterone. It's enough to drive me crazy. She's your damn lobster. Your hers. It's sweet." Meredith turned to look at Derek who had taken this opportunity to drink milk from the carton. "Just like, for some reason, he's mine."

"He has his good moments, Meredith. I don't really know you two, but he has his moments." Addison chirped up, just as she sat up on the sofa, still close to Mark.

"He does, doesn't he? Just like Mark does too. His are rare, but you're definitely a good person to have around. I like Mark a lot more when you're around."

"Can someone please explain this whole damn lobster thing?" Mark asked a little louder than intended, but it seemed to have done the trick. Derek had stopped drinking the milk, Meredith had sat down, and Addison was looking up at him with a small grin on her lips.

"Lobsters mate for life. They fall in love, and mate for life. You're her lobster." Meredith responded as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Mark looked down at Addison and smiled, leaning in and pressing his lips softly against her cheek. "You're definitely my lobster." He whispered as he pulled away. There was no doubt about it, he'd fallen in love back in high school, and he hoped that Addison was the woman he was with for the rest of his life.

"Just because you've got this new found discovery, doesn't mean that we can walk in here one day and catch you two having sex on the sofa." Derek added as he walked over and sat on the arm of the chair Meredith was sitting on.

"Derek!" Meredith muttered before hitting him once again.

"What?" He asked innocently, looking down at his girlfriend.

"It's all right. We're taking things slow. We're not even dating yet." Mark answered, only to feel Addison nudge him slightly.

"We're dating." She disagreed, smiling at the look on his face. "You're my lobster, I'm yours. We're dating."


	6. Christmas

**It's taken ages for this chapter to get up. Considering I started it way before Christmas. Terrible, I know. But I wanted a new chapter, plus getting a review from McHobbit yesterday made me want to update it even more.**

**It's not the best, in fact, I'd say it's the worst. Longer than the rest, if I'm correct. And I apologise for how bad it gets towards the end, I lost my flow completely. I have part of the next chapter written up, but that may not be up until Sunday/Monday. With work, and having to actually see family, I don't have much free time. Still, review? I'd really appreciate it.**

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Christmas wasn't always a time that Mark enjoyed, he wasn't a holiday type person but this time, he was looking forward to it. Even though it was only five-thirty, he was awake and watching the woman beside him as she slept. Meredith and Derek had gone to his parents house the day before and they weren't going to be back until the day after boxing day, so it was time that he was going to spend with Addison and make the most of every minute. The last thing he wanted to do was wake her, she looked so peaceful and they'd been up fairly late the night before watching Christmas movies and talking. He wasn't rushing anything, so sex was off the table. Not that Mark minded at all, because just having Addison beside him when he fell asleep was enough. Like any normal guy, he liked sex, loved sex really, but they were taking things slow. It wasn't like it would be their first time, but he still wanted it to be something special, not just the two of them doing it because it was what couples done.

Mark moved closer to Addison, tightening his grip around her waist ever so slightly as he kissed her cheek softly before closing his eyes as he let his head fall back on the pillow. There was no point in getting up yet, so if he went back to sleep, hopefully the next time he woke up it would be a more reasonable hour and Addison would be up. Even though they'd said they might head up to see Derek's family for Christmas, Mark wanted it to just be him and Addison. If things happened as they usually did in the Shepherd household, they'd be having another get together on Boxing Day, so they could go up there then and spend time with everyone. It wasn't long after Mark's head had hit the pillow that he was asleep again and before he knew it he could feel Addison moving from his grip.

"Addie," he mumbled, pulling her against himself again.

"I need the bathroom, Mark." Reluctantly, he let go of her so that she could go to the bathroom, the bed feeling cold as soon as she had got out. Since their conversation with Derek and Meredith about the whole 'lobster' thing, they'd been practically inseparable. They were officially dating and Mark was happier than he'd been in a long time, he had Addison back in his life and this time he was going to make sure that things lasted.

"Merry Christmas," Addison said softly as she got back into bed, pulling the sheets over the two of them as she rolled onto her side to face Mark whose eyes were still closed.

"Merry Christmas," Mark answered with a smile forming on his lips as he opened his eyes, leaning in and pressing his lips softly against Addison's. As he slowly pulled away, he ran his fingers through her red hair, his eyes remaining on hers.

"We're going to do something more than just stay in bed today, aren't we?" Addison asked quietly as she snuggled against him, resting her head on his chest.

"We can do whatever you want, watch Christmas movies, cook dinner, go for a walk, anything." Mark said as he ran his fingers through her hair, before moving his hand down to her back.

"Can we do all of that? It really does sound like the best Christmas day, ever."

"I said we can do whatever you want and if you want movies, a walk and cooking dinner together, we can do it all."

Addison let out a soft content sigh against Mark's chest before moving so that she was looking up at him, her chin resting on his chest. "You're turning out to be a pretty good boyfriend, you know that?" The red head teased softly as she reached up and ran her own fingers through his short hair.

"I'm trying. You're worth it all. I wouldn't have wanted to spend Christmas morning like this with anyone else, believe me." Mark looked at Addison as he spoke, he was being honest. There was not a single other woman he could imagine spending Christmas morning with and he was glad she felt the same about him. Plus, the fact that she'd just called him her boyfriend made things better. "You tell me what you want to do first, then we'll go do it. Anything you want to do."

Addison let her head rest against his chest again, listening to the sound of his steady heartbeat as she looked up at him. She didn't want it to just be about her, it was their day together, not just all about her. "Presents? It's not much what I've got you, so I'm sorry. But I hope you'll like it anyway."

"You could get me a packet of Oreos and I'd be happy with it." Mark said honestly as he slowly sat up in bed, watching Addison as she got out of bed once again, pulling one of Mark's hoodies over her head.

"Come on. We're not staying in bed all day, so up you get."

"I like it when you're bossy, makes you even sexier," Mark said with a smirk as he got up out of bed and walked over to Addison, wrapping his arms around her waist as he placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"Mmhmm," Addison began as she pulled away from the kiss. "You not wearing any clothes makes you even sexier, but I don't think you'll want to go outside naked, will you?"

"That a challenge?" Mark asked as he let go of Addison before grabbing a t-shirt and pulling it over his head and following her into the living room. They had a small tree, nothing much, but it had a few presents underneath it. A couple for Derek and Meredith, plus ones from them for Mark and Addison. "Coffee or anything?"

"No, I'm good, thanks." Addison said as she sat on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her body, looking over at Mark who was now kneeling down by the tree going through the presents and getting out the ones that were for them.

"You're like a kid at Christmas, aren't you?"

Mark looked up at Addison, a grin spread across his face as he picked up the presents and walked over to Addison, sitting down on the couch beside Addison and placing the presents the other side of him. "I've got a reason to be excited this Christmas, Addie."

"What reason's that?" Addison asked with a small grin on her face as she leant against Mark a little more.

"The fact that I woke up next to a beautiful woman this morning is good enough in itself. But spending the day with her just makes it even better. I have every reason to be excited this Christmas."

"I'm glad you're happy, Mark." Addison said softly as she leant her head against his shoulder reaching for his hand.

"You're happy, right?" Mark asked as he brushed his thumb across the back of her hand.

"Of course I am," Addison replied as she looked up at Mark, a smile on her face. "I haven't been this happy in a long time, but it's nice seeing you like this. I know I haven't exactly made it easy on you recently."

"You're worth it though. You could've put me through hell for the past few months and if things turned out like this, I couldn't give a crap about the past few months," he began. "But trying to make everything up to you, prove to you that I want you back, it's made me realise just how much I need you around."

In the whole time she'd known Mark, he'd never really been one for talking about how he felt, back in school he refused to talk to her on frequent occasions. But one way or another, she got it out of him. The one thing that had shocked Addison more than anything else was the fact that Mark had been the one to say 'I love you' first. They had been in the library studying, something Mark had often refused to do but she'd convinced him that if he stayed with her for an hour while she studied, they could do something he wanted to do afterwards. She had been so caught up in the work she was doing to notice Mark sitting there watching her, but the instant she realised, Addison's cheeks had gone bright red. To this day, she'd never worked out why, she'd never been embarrassed when he saw her naked for the first time. He had reached up, brushed some hair from her face and said that he loved her. It wasn't in a way to get her into bed, because that had already happened, but it just made her fall in love with him that little bit more.

With Addison being the stubborn person that she is, she had refused to tell him first, to say those three words before Mark did. If that meant not telling him, then she decided that she wouldn't tell him. A smile had instantly spread across her face as she looked up at him, the sincerity in his tone, the look on his face and how she leant into his touch, all made her want him so much then. Then, she had whispered those three words back to him, keeping her eyes on his for a few seconds afterwards before going back to her work. Still, to this day, she didn't expect him to just be open and honest about everything the way he had been so far, but she liked it. She liked having her Mark around being the way he was.

"Presents?" Addison nudged Mark softly as her gaze fell down on the presents that Mark had picked up from underneath the tree.

"Getting impatient?" Mark teased as he picked up the present he had got for Addison and handed it to her. "Again, Merry Christmas, Red."

Addison blushed once again, at times she really hated how Mark could have that effect on her without even trying and she snuggled against his arm a little more as she took the present from him. "Thank you. You already have yours from me there. Open them together?" The red head looked up at him and smiled softly.

"Together." Mark agreed, picking up the present from Addison and placing it on his lap.

"I'm sorry it's not much, but I hope you'll like it."

Mark rolled his eyes as he gently nudged his girlfriend, kissing the top of her head softly. "I said you could have got me oreos and I mean that."

As they sat together, Addison opened her present whilst trying to watch Mark's reaction to his present, just as he was with her. Holding the box on her lap, the wrapping paper now discarded to the floor, she looked up at Mark as he looked down at his gift. "I know it's nothing. It's stupid really, but I had no idea what to get you, even after knowing you for so long. It's you, Mark. I never knew what to get you before, and with things only recently getting back on track, I didn't

know what to do."

Mark listened to Addison talk and when she fell silent, he chuckled softly opening the book that laid on his lap. Honestly, he couldn't imagine a more perfect gift than a scrapbook of memories. Not just from when she dropped her books in hope of getting away from him a few months before, but of High School, of when they were together back then. "Addison. It's perfect." He whispered as he looked through the photos, the movie ticket stubs, a business card from the restaurant he took her to for their anniversary back in school. He never expected her to keep it all, but having her put it in a scrapbook for him made everything so much better.

"Really?" Addison asked quietly, still holding the box from Mark in her hand. She knew he liked it by the silence as he went through the pages. "I know it's not full, but I decided that we'd manage to add things over time. At least, I'd find things to add to it and you'll just call me stupid or something."

"Addison, this is far from stupid." Mark said truthfully as he looked up at his girlfriend. "This must have taken you a while to put together, it's perfect." Closing the book, he kept it on his lap, it really was the best present he'd ever got and with it being from Addison, it just made it so much more special. "Your present, Red."

Addison looked away from Mark and down at the box she was holding, then back up to Mark again. "It best not be anything too much, Mark. You could have got me Oreos and I'd be happy." A grin on her face as she repeated his words before looking back down at the box. She pulled the ribbon that was around it before taking the lid off and there was no way to hide the small gasp that escaped her lips. It was beautiful, she had seen it in the window of the store, almost always stopping to look at it. She definitely hadn't expected Mark to get it for her. Lightly brushing her fingers across it, a grin appeared on her lips as she slowly brought her eyes up to meet Mark's. "You shouldn't have, Mark."

Rolling his eyes at Addison's words, Mark reached for the necklace and unclasped it. "A miss seeing you look this happy? Not a chance."

Turning her head, she moved her hair out of the way so that Mark could put the necklace on her. "Thank you though." Addison turned to look at Mark once the necklace was on and she smiled at him before leaning in and pressing her lips lightly against his.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it." He replied as he pulled away from the kiss, his arm slipping around her waist and pulling her close against himself. "I didn't know what to get you at first, I kept asking Meredith what to get you, but she was no help."

Addison couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she snuggled against Mark, this was going to be the best Christmas day ever, she was sure of it. "You didn't have to get me anything. But, it's perfect, thank you."

"You don't need to thank me, Addie. It's worth it to see you this happy."

"I don't need necklaces and gifts to make me happy. I've got you, you're pretty amazing yourself."

The two sat on the sofa for the rest of the morning, opening the other few gifts they had and watching the usual array of crap there was on TV on Christmas morning. Still, it beat being alone and Addison was happy just having Mark's arms around her. Every so often she'd reach up and brush her fingers over the necklace, a tiny smile on her face. At the beginning of the semester, Addison never expected to spend her Christmas with anyone like this, let alone Mark. But as she sat there, she couldn't imagine spending Christmas any other way.

"What's the plan for New Year?" Addison questioned softly just as the credits of a movie were going up the screen.

"You're wanting to spend it with me?"

"I couldn't imagine spending it with anyone else. Plans?"

Mark shrugged his shoulders slightly, running his fingers through Addison's hair as she looked up at him, her head resting on his lap. "We could see if Meredith and Derek want to do something? The four of us. Unless you had anything in mind?"

"Nope, nothing. Just wanted to check that you didn't already have plans, or if you did, that I could be included on them."

"You should know that I would want you there, whatever I'm doing."

"Good," Addison said softly, sighing contently as she looked back towards the television.

Eventually, the two decided that they were going to cook dinner, only it wasn't the traditional Christmas dinner, they settled for grilled cheese sandwiches with tater tots and the cake they baked for dessert. Most of which was around the kitchen from the food fight they decided to have when they were making it. Still, they were happy and the smiles didn't disappear from their faces. Addison told Mark frequently that it was the best Christmas she'd had so far and she wanted the next one to be as good, which pleased Mark more than he could imagine with the fact that she was already planning on being with him for another year.

They'd watched It's a Wonderful Life, cuddled up on the sofa, picking at the cake that they'd made. Addison had then changed into Mark's clothes and suggested they go for that walk which she had mentioned in the morning, it was Christmas, she didn't care what she looked liked, she only cared about spending it with Mark. They'd walked along Broadway, gone to the Rockerfeller Center, and walked back through Central Park on the way back. All the time, Addison refused to let go of Mark's hand as she snuggled against him when they walked. Christmas was good and New Year was going to be just as good. She hadn't needed a gift to make things perfect, spending it with Mark was perfect in itself.

* * *

**Told you the last bit sucked, but you should still review it, please?**


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